Rebecca Wachtman

Have you ever heard the chirpy little saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". I've always found that saying to be rather annoying... perhaps it's because I happen to strongly dislike lemonade!    Plus it the saying makes it sound like it's just sooo easy to just turn your lemons into lemonade.  Well I don't have the right tools, I don't like drinking lemonade (even with tea or fruit flavors in it!), and I think the whole saying downplays the real-life drama and frustrations that come with receiving lemons instead of whatever you thought you were supposed to receive! SO I've decided that when life gives you lemons, you need to take a few moments (if possible) and re-imagine what those lemons could actually be! When I am stuck, I've found it best to let my mind think about the possibilities, and then augment my mind's processes with some good, old-fashioned research.  I'll look at Pinterest, my favorite blogs, my favorite F...

I have to admit, I'm rather liking the resin and silk sculptures!!    Unfortunately, since I have a small studio, that means that I'm not getting much painting done (sigh).   But my sculptures are coming along nicely. I have one that is twice reclaimed (and it's name will probably reflect that).  I've been experimenting with how to create interesting curves with it.  It started off as reclaimed silk which I then painted a partial flower upon using the Serti method.  I decided I didn't like it and I removed it from the canvas (which took some doing since it was adhered with matte medium), and now it's becoming a flower sculpture!  I have a transparent one with pink and blue streaks, that started off as a large, sculptural bowl.... but it's larger size combined with a hot car ride to a local show - caused it too droop (something it wasn't supposed to be able to do, according to the manufacturers of the resin!).  I've been adding additional res...

I am thrilled to announce that my silk & resin sculpture Enlightened Flower has been accepted into the Silk Painter's International (SPIN) Silk-in-Transitions Art Show - which will be held at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee!  I am honored and excited to have one of my pieces accepted into such an amazing show!!  The Silk-in-Transitions art show takes place during the SPIN conference and while I'm sad that I can't personally attend, it's exciting to know that my artwork will!  My artwork will be available for viewing from October 1st, 2016 through November 5th, 2016.  Thank you SPIN!!  I can't wait to see pictures of the show!!

Silk Painting Workshop at Allied Arts Gallery At The Park It has been an exciting and fun year so far!!  After attending the Fiber Fusion Show opening (where I won Best Use of Mixed Media!!), I went back to Richland the next weekend and taught 2 workshops... Intro to Silk Painting and Resisting Your Dyes with an Ice Dyeing Kicker. Resisting Dyes/Ice Dyeing Workshop at Allied Arts Gallery At The Park - yes it was messy, but fun!!! You can see we were making quite the mess in the Resists (Shibori) class!! Thank you to all the wonderful ladies that took my workshops!!! You made the workshops so much fun!!!! The next week was graduation for the Transition students at the ACT Program where I have a muggle job as a vocational specialist and was responsible for the slideshow/movie presentation. I am SO proud of these young people!!!! And then the next weekend I got to demo Silk Painting at the Whidbey Island Garden Tour.  I was located at the...